Draft
Minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting
Friday,
December 09, 2005
Board members present: Dennis
Wedde, Susan Lorenz, Hilde Perala, Joe Salzman, Karen Witt, Dale Hippensteel,
Jody Langfeldt, Sharon Hampson, Patty Krug, Melody Bockenfeld, Nancy
Eggleston, Judy Crouch-Smolarek, Suzanne Oehlke,
Board members absent: Jim
Stecker, Lowell Haugen, Kathy Munsey, Barb Theis, Mary Cay Freiberg, Sally
Nusslock
Meeting called to order at
8:35 am by Co-President Dale Hippensteel. Those participating in the
teleconference were asked to identify themselves. Motion by P. Krug and
seconded by J. Crouch-Smolarek to approve the agenda as presented. Motion
carried.
Motion made by P. Krug and
seconded by J. Crouch-Smolarek to approve the minutes of the November 11,
2005 meeting as presented. Motion carried.
Motion made by J. Salzman and
seconded by M. Bockenfeld to approve the treasurer’s report as presented.
Barb Theis, treasurer, was absent from the meeting. Dale indicated any
questions can be carried over and directed to Barb at the next meeting.
Motion carried.
Committee Reports:
v
Legislative Committee/Joint Public Affairs Report – Report
given by D. Hippensteel. He received an update from Hovan Consulting
regarding legislation of public health interest. There was a meeting of
DHFS representatives with Rep. Heintz regarding the public health statute
modernization. There are currently 10 co-sponsors for this bill. There
will be a committee hearing on January 11, 2006. PA committee will also
meet on that day to enable those who are interested in attending the hearing
and supporting the statute. Letter will be sent from this group thanking
Rep. Heintz for moving this legislation along. The smoke-free bill is in
limbo again but it is expected to return in 2006. The Senate passed the
conceal carry legislation. It will now proceed to the Assembly where it is
expected to pass. Gov. Doyle has stated he will veto it when it reaches his
desk. Unsure if there are enough votes to override his veto.
v
Joint Annual Conference Report – H. Perala reported there had
been no meeting since the last board meeting and they will be meeting next
week. They do have Brian Perkins as a keynote speaker. Also Pat (Patricia)
Mail President of APHA will be attending. Work groups will be starting to
meet. She will send out information on work groups and contact early next
week. The committee is hoping to follow a track format for the event.
People are starting to get involved with the committees.
v
Public Health Council – main topic of discussion is where the
School of Public Health will be located. Minutes are posted on the HAN if
anyone is interested.
v
Environmental Health Specialty Group – N. Eggleston reported
that their last meeting was October 20. DATCP fees are increasing; this has
not been done for 8 years. The increase will be approximately 23% and will
be effective in 2006. The impact will be seen on 2007 agent reimbursement.
o
Listeria monitoring of RTE products
will resume as swab testing for contact and non-contact surfaces.
o
There is agreement between Ag and
Health on the final agent evaluation tool. It is now a more meaningful
document.
o
DATCP will be offering HACCP training
in 2006.
o
There is currently a new consortium
between Ag and Health. They have hired a graduate student to work on this.
o
There is an issue with misbranding of
Walleye by the suppliers that is being served at fish fries. Business alert
will go out.
o
DHFS self-inspection proposal was not
accepted by USDA. Two inspections are required for schools. A suggestion
was made to do food safety verification, not a full second inspection.
Training will be conducted to help schools develop their food safety plan.
Health inspectors will be encouraged to attend however DPI is not going to
make these trainings mandatory. If an inspector goes into verify a plan and
there is no plan there just needs to be a note indicating that the school
has no plan on the inspection form.
o
The electronic inspection program has
some problems. There are some canned pop-ups and often you get the whole
chapter instead of the specific citation you are looking for. A comment was
offered by Sheboygan County who has a different program from an Ohio company
that is part of their H & HS software.
o
Greg Pallaske is planning a three day
meeting, 2/21 – 2/23. Not certain what topics will be included.
o
Inspections for pool slides are being
incorporated into the pool code.
o
There is also a movement to put
campgrounds, lodging and BB’s in one code.
o
There was discussion at this meeting
regarding various procedures used to inspect meth labs sites in the state.
Polk County dealt with 32 of them last year. Brian Hobbs has a procedure to
inspect sites identified as meth lab sites that he will share with Tommye so
it can be distributed to other interested people.
Nancy then reviewed some of the
legislation pending dealing with
environmental issues. Nancy will
get this information to Dale for inclusion in the
legislative grid.
v
Nutritional Specialty Group – S. Oehlke reported that the
Wisconsin WIC Association is trying to get more of the Federal WIC money to
go to the locals. In 2001 80% of money went to locals and in 2005 72% of
this money went to locals. The state claimed that some money needed to be
held back for the Rosey program. Now that the program is in place that
money should go to the locals. WWA will look to WALHDAB for support on this
issue. Her group is working on numbers and will get them out to us. J.
Salzman will get this information to the Public Health Council when they
meet in January. It was suggested that a letter or position paper be put
together. Dale asked Suzanne to work with J. Willems-Van Dijk as to the
best way to get this information to the Public Health Council. The
suggestion was made not to use comparative states rates as support as states
figure rates differently.
o
She also reported that Institute of
Medicine (IOM) is recommending a change in the WIC authorized food list.
Proposed rules will be available in January or February 2006. This would be
a cost neutral plan. The new list would be a move toward foods following
dietary guideline besides cereal, juice and milk. It was suggested that the
new list be more ethnically appropriate. Will request support of WALHDAB
when needed.
Public Health Advisory Committee –
no report
Regional Representative Reports –
Western Region – H.
Perala reported that they had two speakers at their last
meeting. A DNR representative
discussing hazard waste disposal especially
pharmaceutical waste. In the
past flushing was an accepted method
of disposal but they are
finding that water treatment plants are not able to
handle these wastes. These
items should be returned to the supplier, incinerated
or place in a land fill. The
second speaker was from AHEC promoting the summer
intern program. These interns
can help with projects and support.
Southern Region – Susan
Lorenz the new Southern Region representative reported
that four health officers are
leaving the Southern Region by Christmas. Helen
Krause from Rock County is
retiring. Gary Johnson is going to Seattle to work
as a supervisor in the
Prevention part of their Public Health Department. Kate
Vedder will be staying in the
Madison area but not as City of Madison Health
Officer. Linda Dalton will be
stepping down as the interim Health Officer for the
city of Beloit. She will
remain on as a supervisor in the newly merged Rock
County/City of Beloit Health
Department. Jody Langfeldt reported discussion that
was held on the problem of
health departments being reimbursed by Medicare
HMO for influenza.
Northern Region – It
was reported that they also had an AHEC representative
speak to their group. Their
next meeting is next week. Susan Lorenz commented
on how positive her experience
with summer interns through AHEC was with a
multi-county foreign worker
project in the Wisconsin Dells area.
Northeast Region – no
recent meeting.
Southeast Region – no
report.
New Business
1.
Will be using WIS-Line for telephone
meetings in 2006.
Old Business
1.
By-Laws distributed – every listening
had received a copy of the by-laws.
2.
Web-site Update - K. Munsey’s
daughter has been working to keep our Web Site up to date. She will
continue in this role for the present. Dale can up date information as well
through his I.S. Department.
3.
Lobbyist Contract – Discussion was
held on renewing the contract with our current lobbyist. They are happy to
be working with us and WALHDAB seems pleased with their work. It is a
2-year contract with a 60 day exclusion (out clause) for either party. Fees
will be $1500 per month in 2006 and $2000 per month in 2007. The fees are
split 50-50 with WPHA. These increases will be based on an evaluation of
their work in either late summer or early fall. Dale has talked to Jim
Stecker and Jim is in support of accepting this contract. This is one for
the reasons for the dues increase. S. Hampson moved to approve the contract
and D. Wedde seconded. Motion carried.
A suggestion was made that before next meeting date and
adjournment are done that a request be made from the group for suggested
agenda items for the next meeting. J. Salzman suggested discussion
regarding the distribution of influenza vaccine. M. Bockenfeld will work up
a report including pandemic fact finding.
The next meeting will be at the Stevens Point Public
Library on January 13th from 10 AM to 1 PM. We will be meeting
in the basement room. Please remember to notify someone if you are unable
to attend.
Meeting adjourned at 9:27 a.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jody Langfeldt, Secretary.
